Tory Senator Pierre Claude Nolin urges colleagues to be less partisan

A long-serving Conservative senator is calling for his colleagues to be less partisan in the Upper Chamber just days after Justin Trudeau declared all Liberal senators were independent.

Senator Pierre Claude Nolin warns his colleagues they cannot be partisan at all costs.

Its easier for a senator to do his job if he makes decisions less based onpartisanship, Nolin said in a speech to the Senate on Tuesday. Free choice for everyone is often a better guide.

The conclusion of Nolins remarks was greeted with broad applause.Trudeau astonished the 32 senators under his direction last week by banningthem from his national Liberal caucus and from formal campaign roles withoutany notice or discussion.

The Liberal leader also said he would appoint a blue-ribbon non-partisan panel toselect senators should he be elected prime minister.

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Nolins appeal for a fading of party colours in the Senate comes just one weekafter Prime Minister Stephen Harper and much of the Conservative front benchridiculed the Liberal plan, saying it changed nothing.

And yet, the new-found independence for 32 previously Liberal senators has gotsome Conservative senators thinking and talking more about freeing themselvesfrom a lock-step march with their party and how they might be able to use anynew-found liberty.

Some Conservative senators did exercise some autonomy from their party in ahard-fought battle last June. Senator Hugh Segal managed to get enough senatorson board to gut a Conservative MPs Private Members bill that would have forcedunions to publicly disclose salaries and spending.

Nolin, who was appointed by Brian Mulroney in 1993, has never shied awayfrom going against his party in the Senate. He has long been an advocate of legalizationof marijuana, which flies in the face of the Harper governmentsposition on the issue.

But Tuesdays speech constituted an impassioned plea to his colleagues toconsider the benefits of being a senator who can speak his mind. And the timingof his speech on the heels of Trudeaus move is bound to prompt questionsabout other Conservatives who may be chafing at party leashes.

'Lose sight of your responsibilities'

Senators are partisan and that is a very good thing, Nolin said. What causesproblems is not that one is partisan; what is a problem is if you are partisan tosuch an extent that you lose sight of your responsibilities.

Diminished partisanship and looser party discipline would allow for lessconfrontational debate and more fruitful investigations, he added.

Nolin has presented a series of seven issues to be discussed in the upperchamber, aimed at better understanding the Senate, its role, history and functionwithin Canadas parliamentary system.

In a speech delivered to the Senate last week, Nolin argued that in order to keepthe House of Commons in check, the Senate cannot be a mere duplication ofthat House.

He concluded that if the Fathers of Confederation were to evaluate whether theSenate is doing what it should, they would have to conclude it has not met theirexpectations.